Science

Modern Cosmology Versus God's Creation

Gary Gutting

Are theistic understandings of the nature
of the universe compatible with cosmologies developed through modern
science? This conversation between prominent philosophers Gary Gutting and Tim
Maudlin suggests theistic and modern scientific cosmologies are not necessarily incompatible; sometimes it's one’s assumptions about God, and how He should create, that cause a perceived incompatibility.

For example, Maudlin states that
science has shown us a universe both spatially and temporally vast. For him, because of the "completely random location of homo sapiens within it,” we cannot accept the privileged place of the earth
and humanity in the biblical creation account. However, Gutting points out that
this assumes a perfect understanding of how the Creator should show a special
relationship with humanity or with the earth, and it also assumes that this Creator
might not also have other purposes in Creation beyond humanity.

Christians can benefit from following
conversations such as this one, which suggest that some claims for the incompatibility of Christian and modern scientific understandings of the nature
of the universe are too simplistic.

How can Christians help dispel
the unsubstantiated notion that Christian and scientific cosmologies are necessarily incompatible?

In the article, Gutting does
admit that certain readings of Genesis are incompatible with modern cosmology. How
can Christians seek in unity to come to an interpretation of the Genesis
account that is most faithful to what God intended to reveal about Creation?